Men's Basketball Picked 8th in Preseason Coaches Poll; Season Tips at UNC-Charlotte on November 1st

October 15, 2012

HIGH POINT, N.C. – Barton College was selected as the top team in the annual men's basketball preseason poll released on Monday morning. Pfeiffer University was selected eighth overall. The Bulldogs are coming off a 20-10 season where they finished 9-7 in league play before rolling to the Conference Carolinas Tournament Championship.

Barton, which has made six NCAA Tournament appearances in head coach Ron Lievense’s 17 years, returns just one full-time starter from that team, but that player is former league Freshman of the Year Gerald Boston, a sensational senior point guard who is three-time All-Conference and is coming off a junior year where he garnered Conference Carolinas Tournament MVP and All-Region honors.

King College ranked second in the preseason poll. Last season the Tornado surprised Conference Carolinas after being picked fifth in the preseason poll but ended up having one of the best seasons in school history by posting an overall record of 23-8, winning the regular season conference title with a record of 14-2, and advancing to the program’s first NCAA Tournament during its first year of postseason eligibility.

Mount Olive finished third in the preseason poll. Mount Olive returns two full-time starters and four key reserves from last year’s squad, which posted its seventh 20-win season in the last nine years and reached the championship game of the 2012 Conference Carolinas Tournament. Ranked No. 6 in the Southeast Region heading into the conference tournament, the Trojans narrowly missed earning its seventh NCAA Tournament bid in the last nine years.

Queens finished fourth in the poll with Belmont Abbey fifth followed by Coker, Limestone, Pfeiffer, Erskine, Lees-McRae College, and North Greenville respectively rounding-out the poll standings.